LeBron James should be NBA MVP? Ex-Knick J.R. Smith has a thought about that

403 Forbidden

There's been a lot of chatter about the idea of Houston Rockets superstar James Harden or Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry winning MVP.

But to Cleveland Cavalier and former Knicks guard J.R. Smith, the answer is simple. Here's what he said on Monday (via the Los Angeles Times) about his teammate LeBron James:

"There's a lot of speculation about who should get the award, but we all know who the real MVP is. ... I mean, the numbers, what he does for teams. You see one year removed from a team like Miami — and they probably won't even make the playoffs — to a team that hasn't made the playoffs since he left and then, all of the sudden, we're a 52-win team. So, I don't think you can do that with anybody else that's in our league right now."

If you're scoring at home, that would be five MVP trophies for James. No matter for Smith — he thinks James could be penciled in for the award every year.

"Not to knock anything from the other two guys," he said. "They're having great years, career years for both of them, but if you want to be realistic about it, you could give it to [James] every time."